My AncestryDNA Test, part 1

I finally ordered my AncestryDNA kit when it was on sale last month because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Actually, what really happened was that I was helping a couple of people out with their AncestryDNA results and I was really impressed by how well they were finding matches and making connections.

I usually recommended Family Tree DNA as a testing company because they are the most transparent and because they offer testees the most tools with which to analyze their data. But frankly, I had burned myself out a year ago trying to do all that chromosome mapping and analyzing of the numbers.

So late last year I switched tactics. I've been downloading and building out the trees of my matches and looking for intersections between their trees and my own. This is also a very tedious process, but I found that I preferred doing this kind of "research" over just trying to crunch numbers that changed all the time. This process started working better for me. The number of connections I found doubled.

Since this new process of working the trees was working so well for me this past year, I decided I would try my hand at the AncestryDNA test which is based on finding matches within your trees.

Boy was I in for a big surprise!

I was on the site for 10 minutes and in that time I found connections to 3 cousins!

I don't have all the numbers to share with you, like the total number of matches - I actually can't find that. So if anyone knows how to determine what my total number of matches are, please let me know. I can tell you that I have 2 3rd cousin matches! I've already determined the connection to one of them (see below). I have about 3 pages of 4th cousins and the rest (about 253 pages) are distant cousins. 

Let's take a look at one of my 3rd cousin matches:

I clicked on his name. He only has 9 people in his tree, but it was enough to see that yes, we are, in fact, cousins. We descend from a common King line in Howell and Oregon Counties, Missouri. His great-grandfather, WilliamFletcher King, was the brother of my 2^nd great-grandmother, Dora King.

So if you've used Ancestry.com to build your family tree, you are all too aware of their little shaky leaves that offer you "hints" of records that might pertain to your ancestors. Well evidently they've applied these hints to your matches as well. Unfortunately,  I did not get a shaky leaf with this match. But I could tell by looking at his little tree where the connection was - Along the King line.

Family Tree of my AncestryDNA Match

Then I clicked on “King” inside the yellow box and it brought up a list of King ancestors for each of us. This is very helpful, especially if I have forgotten who my King ancestors were! His King ancestors are on the left and mine are on the right. I am not sure why it did not pull up a relationship chart.

Our King Ancestors

I entered my match into my Family Maker Software, synced with my online tree, and then asked my online tree to calculate my relationship to Mr. King. Here’s what it produced:

Relationship Report between my Match and I

It says we are 3^rd cousins once removed. This lines up with what AncestryDNA predicted which was 3^rd cousins. I'm not sure why it chose to display Tabitha House as the common ancestor between us. She was married to Robert King. He is also one of our common ancestors. We share both common ancestors - not just one. 

DON’T STOP THERE!

I always try to remind the people I work with and the people who attend my presentations that they shouldn't stop with just identifying the connection with their matches.

These are some of the Next Steps I take:

1.       Add my match to my tree. If they have additional family members tested, I add them as well

2.       Send him information about who his grandfather’s Virgil’s parents & grandparents were

3.       Ask him to upload to Gedmatch so I can compare our results to another known King cousin  match from ftDNA

4.       Foster the relationship – Exchange photos, stories, and information about your families

KEEP IN TOUCH!

In my next post I will discuss those shaky leafs.

If you have King ancestors from Oregon or Howell Counties in Missouri, I would love to hear from you.

Email me.

Mary Polly Allen - My one and only Allen Ancestor

I learned about my ancestor Mary Polly Allen late last year after corresponding with a descendant of Ridley J. Thomas who had left a "post-it note" on another researcher's Rootsweb family tree on Mary's husband Abraham Huddleston.[1] The post-in note mentioned a Thomas family bible that I was very interested in seeing.[2]

The bible stated that Abraham Huddleston was the father of Nancy Huddleston who had married my ancestor William Thomas and that Mary Polly Allen was Abraham's wife.

Pedigree View of my Huddleston, Thomas, and Allen Ancestors

Nova Lee Peters was my great-grandmother

According to the Family bible, Abraham Huddleston was born 13 June 1773 in Bedford County, Virginia and died 1 Feb 1858 in Thomasville, Oregon County, Missouri. His wife, Mary Polly ALLEN was born 20 Mar 1777 in Virginia. It is not known exactly when she died; however, it must have been after 1850 because she was enumerated on the 1850 Oregon County, Missouri census with her husband Abraham and two grandchildren, Henry and Martha Huddleston.[3]

Mary Allen and Abraham Huddleston were married in Bedford County, Virginia on 2 Mar 1793. Abraham's brother Daniel Huddleston provided surety and Nathaniel Shrewsbury married them. The request was made by Ann Allen.[4]

When I plugged Mary Polly Allen's name into Ancestry.com's search box and added Abraham Huddleston as a spouse, 254 records were returned.[5] About two-thirds of these results did not have any names assigned to her parents and the other one-third had "Charles Allen" as her father and "Ann" as her mother.

Information on exactly who this Charles Allen was or where he came from was not located. Some of the trees had him identified as Colonel Charles Allen, the Revolutionary War Patriot from Virginia who married Ann Venable. Although there were several online SAR applications on Ancestry.com about Colonel Charles Allen who was married to Ann Venable, I could not find any information about who their children might have been.

Since the online trees are notorious for being incorrect and are often bordering on the absurd, I decided to turn to DNA to help me figure out who the parents of my Mary Polly ALLEN might be. I had noticed recently that many of the matches to my maternal grandfather have ALLEN listed in their surnames. Is ALLEN becoming the new SMITH or JONES? I don't think so. But I sure am curious as to where exactly it is coming from and whether or not it is connected to my one Allen ancestor (at least that I had identified so far).

I logged into my Grandfather's ftDNA account and pulled up his Family Finder matches. I typed in "Allen" into the Ancestral Surnames search box.

I got 60 matches back. However, the search box also picked up surnames that contained "allen" including "Ballenger." I can mark these off my list. Off these 60 matches, about 40 of them have online gedcoms uploaded to their profiles.

Next, I wanted to see if any of these matches have Colonel Charles Allen and Ann Venable OR Charles Allen and wife Ann as ancestors in their online gedcoms. I click on the first gedcom, then type in "Allen" into the search box and click the "Search Names" button:

ftDNA will pull up all of the "Allens" it could find in the tree and give me a list that I can select from:

Since there are so many trees with Allen in their list of surnames, I simply looked for Charles in the list above and if I did not see his name, I closed the tree and moved on to the next one.

Unfortunately, most of what I found were females named Allen with no known parents, dates or places of birth. This did not increase my confidence that my Mary Polly Allen was the daughter of Charles and Ann Allen. In fact, if anything, what it did was made me question this relationship even more.

Next Steps....

1)  I want to look more closely at the Allens in each of these 40 gedcoms. Is there a particular Allen that shows up over and over again? If so, then maybe they are our common ancestors.

2)  Find and contact other descendants of Colonel Charles Allen and Ann Venable. Ask them if they have done DNA testing and compare our results using Gedmatch.com. If you are a descendant of this couple, or if you descend from Mary Polly ALLEN and Abraham Huddleston, please contact me.

3)  As soon as the Gedmatch.com site is back up and running (and fully functioning), I intend to search the online gedcoms there as well. I will search first for my known ancestors, Mary Polly Allen and Abraham Huddleston. Then I will compare any of this couples' descendants' DNA to that of my family. Then I will perform a search for Colonel Charles Allen and Mary Ann Venable and compare their descendants' DNA to mine as well.

Except,...there's just one little problem...I know how to search the Gedmatch.com gedcoms, but I don't know how to figure out who they belong to, how to contact the gedcom owners or find out their Gedmatch IDs so I can compare our DNA results.

Any ideas? If so, please email me or leave a comment below.

Sources: 

[1] Mary Jo Freeman, maryjo@mjgen.com, WorldOneConnect File, "Willard and Related Families," accessed 11 August 2013, Abraham Huddleston. Post it note left by Jim Gray citing a Thomas Family Bible. 
[2] Thomas Family Bible, last owned by Jackson Thomas, digital copies in the possession of Jim Gray, graytherapy@myway.com.
[3]  1850 U. S. Federal Census, Oregon Co., MO, p. 400A, Abraham Huddleston; digital image, Ancestry.com, (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2014); citing NARA Microfilm publication M432, Roll 408. Mary Huddleston, 73 yo. 
[4] "Bedford County, Virginia Marriage Bonds Database," VAGenWeb, a USGenWeb Project, (http://www.vagenweb.org/bedford/bedf-m_h.htm : accessed 11 August 2013), Extracted from the appendix in Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol VI, Virginia. 
[5] Ancestry.com, Public Member Tree Search, (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2014); parameters included the following: First Name (Mary Polly), not exact; Last name (Allen), exact; birth (1777), not exact; in (Virginia, USA), exact; death (Missouri, USA) exact; Spouse name (Abraham) exact & (Huddleston) exact.

Tabitha Watson Death Certificate and Headstone - The Trouble With Dates

Missouri State Board of Health

Bureau of Vital Statistics

Certificate of death, No. 13796

Tobetha Ann WATSON

Died 9 Feb 1937 in Birch Tree, Bartlett Township, Shannon County, Missouri 

[where she also resided]

Born 4 Mar 1846 in Missouri, aged 90 yrs, 11 mo, 5 days at time of death

She was widowed, but her husband's name was Samuel H Watson

Her Father's name was Hull House, and he was born in Missouri

Her Mother's name was Millie Thompson and her date and place of birth were unknown to the informant

The informant was Malinda Moore of Thomasville, MO

She was buried in Union Hill Cemetery on 10 Feb 1937 by John Duncan of Mt View, MO

Cause of death was "Senile Gangrene"

Death certificate was filed 10 Feb 1937 by R. J. Davis, M. D. of Birch Tree, MO 

(his name was also in the field of Registrar). 

I downloaded this death certificate from the Missouri Digital Heritage Site, online database of death certificates from 1910-1960 in March, 2012. It downloaded as a PDF and since I cannot import a PDF into a blog post, I took a screen shot and saved it as a JPG and uploaded the JPG to this blog post. It might be grainy or difficult to read. I have provided the transcript above. 

Tabitha/Tobetha (House) Watson was my 3rd great-grandmother. She was the daughter of Hollingsworth HOUSE and Millie THOMAS. The name on her death certificate for her mother Millie was incorrect as it should be THOMAS and not Thompson. 

There is some discrepancy about the spelling of Tabitha's name. Tabitha's headstone, obituary, and death certificate, all presumably created about the same time, each have a different spelling of her name and different birth and death dates as well! Malinda Moore was the informant on her death certificate. She was a daughter of Tabitha and Samuel Watson. 

Samuel Watson was Tabitha's 2nd husband. She was married 1st to Robert King, July 28, 1870 in Howell County, Missouri. I found their marriage record in the Howell County, MO marriage book. Robert King died in 1876 and Tabitha "King" remarried to Samuel Watson in 1879. I also found their marriage record as well. Samuel Watson preceded Tabitha in death as well in 1925. They were both buried side by side in Union Hill Cemetery in Oregon County, Missouri. Here is a photo of their headstone: 

I can't remember who sent me a copy of this headstone, and as you can see, it's not a very good quality scan and cannot be blown up. The photo on Tabitha's FindAGrave memorial page is a little bit better. According to the headstone, Tabitha died January 9th, 1938. This date is off quite a bit from her obituary and death certificate which both say she died February 9th, 1937! I wonder why there is such a discrepancy? 

If you would like to cite this article, please include the following: Ginger R Smith, "Tabitha Watson Death Certificate and Headstone - The Trouble With Dates," Genealogy by Ginger, posted 24 May 2012 (http://http://genealogybyginger.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). 

The Well-Loved Mother, Mrs. Tobitha Watson of Oregon County, Missouri

These newspaper clippings were sent to me by Wanda Watson, a descendant of Tobitha's husband's brother. Here is the transcription of Tobitha's obituary. She died 9 February 1937 in Birch Tree, Missouri: 

"Tobitha Ann-Watson, daughter of Hol and Millie House, was born in Oregon County, March 4, 1846 and died February 9, 1937 at Birch tree, Missouri. Her age was 90 years, 11 months, and 5 days.

She was united in marriage to Robert King in 1870. To this union two children were born; Fletcher and Dora. Mr. King passed away in 1876. On December 28, 1879 she was married to Samuel H. Watson at King Chapel, Missouri. To this union eight children were born; three daughters, Cora Judd, Linda Moore, Ora Brown, and five sons, Henry, Amos, Bob, Lee and Sam.

Mr. Watson preceded her in death on August 10, 1925. Two of her children, Dora and Henry, also have preceded her in death several years ago. 

She leaves to mourn her passing 4 sons, Amos Watson of Thayer, Mo.; Bob, Lee and Sam Watson of Thomasville, Mo.; and 3 daughters, Cora Judd of Rover, Mo., Linda Moore of Thomasville, and Ora Brown of Birch Tree. She is also survived by three brothers, a sister, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.

She was converted and united with the Methodist Church at King Chapel, Mo., at an early age. She was a devoted Christian, a good kind mother, and a lovable companion.

Funeral services were conducted at Union Hill Church at 3 o’clock Wednesday afternoon on February 10, by Rev. Knight of Mtn. View. A host of relatives and friends were present at the burial at Union Hill Cemetery.

Her toils are past, her work is done

She fought the fight, the victory won

In childhood day her patient smiling face,

Meant more than all the world to us,

There’s nothing here on earth can take her place."

"Card of Thanks

We wish to thank our friends and neighbors who were so kind to us during the illness and death of our mother, Mrs. Watson. And especially do we wish to thank Rev. Knight for his consoling words and those who rendered the music. Also the undertaker and all others who so willingly helped.

The Children."

It has been several years since I have actively done any research on the King or Watson family. This is the first time I've actually noticed that her obituary and death certificate (upcoming post) list her name as Tobitha. I had always thought her name was Tabitha. Most researchers have her listed as Tabitha as well. 

According to her marriage record to her first husband, Robert King, she was listed as what looks to be Tobitha House; according to the marriage record between her and her 2nd husband, Samuel Watson, she is listed as Tolitha King. On her husband, Samuel Watson's death certificate, she is listed twice as Tabitha Watson (once as the wife and once as the informant). However, on her own obituary and death certificate, she is listed as Tobitha Watson and on her headstone, she is listed as Tabitha Watson. I guess I will need to query some of her descendants for clarification. Many of her grandchildren are still living today in Missouri. There is a lot of discrepancy around her date of birth as well, so I am not surprised to see this discrepancy around her name too. 

What is not in question is that Tobitha/Tabitha was the daughter of Hollingsworth HOUSE and Millie THOMAS. I came up as a Family Finder (autosomal DNA) match to a gentleman who also had Thomas as one of his surnames and that prompted me to do some research into my Thomas surname last fall. I learned that my Thomas line supposedly comes from an Ephraim Thomas of Franklin County, Virginia (source: Anne Jobe Brown, via personal email). 

According to the above obituary, and their marriage record, Tabitha House married Robert King July 28, 1870 in Howell County, Missouri. I am in the middle of looking for a notice in one of the local newspapers for their marriage. You can read about my trials and tribulations with historical newspapers here. Her obituary also says that Robert King died in 1876. Again, I have been looking for his death notice to no avail. It could be that the information in this obituary is incorrect. 

Tabitha and Robert King did have two children - Fletcher King and Dora King. Dora was my 2nd great-grandmother who married William Peters. Dora King Peters died of a snake bite around 1912. No record of her death has ever been found. Dora's half-brother Henry Watson, who was mentioned in Tabitha's obituary as the other child who preceded her in death, was shot to death according to Wanda Watson. This obituary contained a lot of very useful information, including the names of the eight children she had with her 2nd husband, Samuel Watson. 

It also states that she was Methodist and was buried in Union Hill cemetery. She was buried beside her 2nd husband, Samuel Watson who died in 1925 and they share a double headstone. Her FindAGrave memorial with photos of her and her headstone is here. This is the second mention of the Methodist affiliation as Tabitha's son Fletcher King was married by a Methodist Circuit Rider named Joseph Martin Willard. 

Next I will see what I can learn from Tabitha/Tobitha's death certificate. Here is a photo of Tabitha when she was older.


Ginger R Smith, "The Well-Loved Mother, Mrs. Tobitha Watson of Oregon County, Missouri" Genealogy by Ginger, posted 22 May 2012 (http://http://genealogybyginger.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). 

Marriage Certificate of Tabitha (House) King and Samuel Watson

Photo of Tabitha House and Samuel Watson, privately held by Fern Miller Harris, descendant of Tabitha and Samuel Watson's daughter Cora Bell Watson, shared with me Oct 2008. 

My 3rd great-grandmother, Tabitha House (pictured above), was married first to Robert King on July 28th, 1870. You can view their marriage record here.  According to Tabitha's obituary, written some 60 years later, Robert King died about 1876. I have been unable to verify this information to date. Shortly after the death of her first husband, Robert, Tabitha remarried to her 2nd husband, Samuel Watson (pictured above with Tabitha), in Highland Township, Oregon County, Missouri, on November 19th, 1879.

Marriage Certificate of Samuel Watson and Tabitha King, 19 Nov 1879, Highland Twp., Oregon Co., MO. Downloaded from  Ancestry.com. 

A copy of their marriage certificate is pictured above. Here is the transcript:

Transcription:

State of Missouri
County of Oregon                                                                            This Certifies
                That Samuel H Watson of Oregon Co. in the State of
Missouri and Tabitha King of Oregon Co., in the State
of Missouri were at Highland Tp, in said County by me joined together in

HOLY MATRIMONY,

on the 19^th day of Nov in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and Seventy nine [1879]
IN PRESENCE OF

B E H Warren LM

The foregoing Marriage Certificate was filed for record in this office on the 17th

day of Dec A. D. 1879.                                                    M G Norman      Recorder

                                                                                         J F Norman         Deputy 

When Tabitha married Samuel Watson, she had 2 small children - William Fletcher King and Dora King, my 2nd great-grandmother - with her. It appears, from talking with folks who lived in the area and knew of this family, that Dora and Fletcher took their step-father's surname of Watson for a while. In fact, they were enumerated as such on the 1880 census.

1880 Highland Township, Oregon County, Missouri Census Report, Samuel Watson head of house, Bica, William and Dora listed as Watsons as well. 

Tabitha and Samuel Watson were married 46 years before Samuel passed away in 1925. Tabitha lived another 12 years following the death of her husband Sam and died in 1937 at the age of 90. Here is a photo of Tabitha in her old age. Tabitha and Samuel had eight children that I know of: 

1. Cora Bell Watson, b. 10 Aug 1880, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 12 Jun 1964, Koshkonog, MO
2. Henry E Watson, b. July 1882,  Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 13 Sep 1929, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO
3. Mary Malinda Watson, b. 17 Apr 1885, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 25 Nov 1954, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO
4. William Amos Watson. b. 21 Mar 1887, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 10 Sep 1960, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO
5. Charles Elbridge "Bob" Watson, b. 31 Mar 1889, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 16 Sep 1959, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO
6. Walter Lee Watson, b. 23 Mar 1891, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 7 Feb 1954, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO
7. Samuel Hansford Watson, Jr., b. 28 Feb 1893, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 30 Nov 1961, Memphis, Shelby Co., TN
8. Ora May Watson, b. 28 Mar 1896, Thomasville, Oregon Co., MO, d. 24 Jun 1973, Mountain View, Howell Co., MO

Sources:

Ancestry.com, "Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002," digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 7 March 2012), The Marriage Certificate of Samuel H Watson and Tabitha King, Oregon County, Missouri; From the microfilm of the Missouri Marriage Records; Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives; Notes: Tabitha was indexed as "Talitha King."

1880 US Federal Census, Oregon County, Missouri, population schedule, Highland Township, Page 326A, Samuel Watson; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2005); NARA Film T9, Roll 707, FHL Film 1254707.

Names, birth and death dates and locations of the children of Tabitha and Samuel Watson were compiled from a multitude of sources. If you would like more information or have information to share, please feel free to Email me.

My first Introduction to a Methodist Circuit Rider

Last month, I posted the marriage license of William Fletcher King, the brother of my 2^nd great- grandmother, Dora King. According to the marriage license, they were married in Oregon County by a “local elder” named Joseph M Willard. [1]

I found Reverend Joseph M Willard on FindAGrave thanks to a cousin who emailed a link to his memorial to me. From there I noted that another cousin, Mary Jo Freeman, had posted some photos of him and his wife, Rhoda. Here is a photo of them together, with permission of Mary Jo Freeman:

According to Mary Jo’s website, Joseph M Willard, her great-grandfather, was a Methodist circuit rider preacher for the districts of West Plains and Koshkonong, Missouri, and Independence County, Arkansas. Both of these neighboring towns bordered the Missouri-Arkansas State Line. Methodist circuit riders travelled around to various communities and preached to their members and tried to set up congregations.

Joseph Martin Willard was born July 14^th, 1865 in Oregon County, Missouri to John and Sarah Colyott Willard. He began preaching when he was 21 years of age. He met his bride-to-be, Susan Rhoda Spurlock at a Methodist Church in Liberty Hill, Sharp County, Arkansas where he was preaching. They were married March 19, 1889 in King’s Mill, Sharp County, Arkansas. They lived in Rover, Oregon County, Missouri until their children were grown at which point they moved to neighboring West Plains, Howell County, Missouri. In his 70s, Joseph became a Judge. Joseph and his wife celebrated their 73^rd wedding anniversary before she passed away in 1962 and he followed shortly thereafter.  [2]

The first question I had when I saw Joseph Willard’s name on my 2^nd great uncle’s marriage license was “I wonder if he is related to Posey Willard, my great-grandmother’s half brother’s father?” I wrote about Posey Willard being the father of my great-grandmother’s half brother, William Herbert Peters previously. Well Mary Jo Freeman was kind enough to write me back and she informed me that yes, in fact, Posey Willard and Joseph Martin Willard were related. They were 2^nd cousins and shared the same great-grandfather, Henry Willard (This is suggested, but not proven).

The Reverend Joseph M Willard lived fairly close by to Fletcher and Mary King in Highland Township in 1900 and Joseph was only 34 years old at the time the census was taken which means he was only 28 years old when he married Fletcher and Mary. He started preaching when he was 21. And the census lists him as a “farmer” which also threw me off, but it was him as the children and wife match up with what Mary Jo has listed for his family members.  

This was a fun experiment in looking at not just bride and groom but also the other key players like the person who married them! I am always skeptical when someone says that “the people who witness the deed are always related.” However, in this case, I was able to provide some context in which the elder and groom had some connection, if not directly related by blood, but by an extramarital affair!

---------------------------------------------------------

Additional resources:
[1] The marriage license between William Fletcher King and Mary A French.  And the question of who was the “local elder.”
[2] More about Reverend Joseph Martin Willard and his family on his great-granddaughter Mary Jo Freeman’s website.
[3] Read about how the mystery of my great-grandmother’s half brother’s parents was solved

“Grand Arrival” – new items at the B. C. Thomas & Co. Store in West Plains, Missouri, June 23rd, 1876

My 2^nd great-grandmother, Dora KING, was the daughter of Tabitha HOUSE and Robert KING. Robert KING supposedly died in 1876 in either Oregon or Howell County, Missouri. While I was looking through Southern Missouri newspapers in 1876 for a death notice of Robert KING, I came across an advertisement for the B. C. THOMAS & Co “Grand Arrival” of new stock and goods (click on image to make larger):

Grand ArrivalOf new goods at B. C. THOMAS & Co’s.
Our new stock carefully selected with
reference to the needs of this community,
is now arriving. Our Prints, Domestics
and Ladies’ Dress Goods will be found
especially fine. Call and see us and see
how cheap we sell goods.
                                                B. C. THOMAS & Co.

I learned a few months ago that I have quite a long line of THOMAS’ in my family. Tabitha HOUSE, my 3^rd great-grandmother, was the daughter of Hollingsworth HOUSE and his first wife, Millie THOMAS. Millie THOMAS was the daughter of William THOMAS and Nancy HUDDLESTON. If you are from Southern Missouri, then you are sure to know the HUDDLESTON family! However, Oregon County, Missouri, where the THOMAS, HUDDLESTON, and HOUSE families are from, was said to have been founded by a THOMAS family. I am unsure if my William THOMAS was related to John and Matilda THOMAS who is said to have founded Oregon County, Missouri. If so, they were probably brothers. Learning more information about my THOMAS family is definitely on my to-do list.

Most of my THOMAS and HOUSE family stayed in Oregon County, but some crossed back and forth between Oregon and Howell Counties. Unfortunately I do not have a list of Millie THOMAS’ brothers and sisters, so I do not know for sure if this B. C. THOMAS was related to my THOMAS family or not. I did a little research on him and found the following on Ancestry.com:

His name was Blackman Coleman THOMAS, born about 1817 in Tennessee. According to the 1880 Howell County, Missouri census report, he was married to Hannah, he was a stock dealer and both his parents were from Virginia. This actually matches up very well for him to be my Millie THOMAS’ brother. Millie was born in 1818. Her father, Ephraim THOMAS, was born in Franklin County, Virginia. He moved to Smith County, Tennessee about 1815 and stayed with his wife’s TEAL family for a bit before removing to Missouri.

Unfortunately, most online family trees have Blackman as the son of William THOMAS and Harriett KEYS from Tennessee. And of course, I couldn’t find any trees (or census reports) pointing to a single source of evidence supporting this theory.

Either way, I just wanted to share this item from the newspaper that my ancestors would have been reading at the time they lived in West Plains or possibly even while living in Thomasville or Alton in neighboring Oregon County, Missouri. Did they visit the B. C. Thomas Store? Did they buy stock from him? I highly doubt the missus purchased dresses from his store as they were probably too poor for that. But they might have purchased fabric to make their children’s clothing out of.

Oh and still no mention of Robert KING’s death in 1876…so I will keep looking. I wonder what other interesting stories I will find in this paper? Oh and I wonder how long it will take for those 33 Ancestry.com online family tree owners to find this post and copy this newspaper article to their online family tree and NOT attribute it. Anyone want to place any bets? And how many do you think will even take the time to write a source citation giving the date and name of the newspaper. Ah hem, even though I have included a citation at the bottom of this post (and note, I did not include a mention of my blog as the secondary source from which the next person to copy this article from also should use.) Hey, it's a start, right? 

Source: West Plains Journal, (West Plains, Howell County, Missouri, USA), 23 June 1876, Page 2, newspaper clipping; The American Antiquarian Society, Massachusetts, USA. Column 1, "Grand Arrival".

Mention of Mr King in Missouri Newspaper, 1876

In the search for my ancestor, Robert King’s death notice in either Howell or Oregon County, Missouri (You can read about my ongoing process here), I came across a mention of a “Mr King” in the August 4^th 1876 edition of the Doniphan Prospect from neighboring Ripley County, Missouri. 

Robert’s spouse, Tabitha House King Watson’s obituary of 1937 says that her husband Robert King died in 1876. I have been unable to locate a death notice for him in 1876 in the Doniphan Prospect so far. However, if this “Mr. King” is my ancestor, Robert King, then at least I could speculate that he was still living in August of 1876.

Here is the transcript of the above newspaper clipping: 

Doniphan Prospect, Volume 3, Number 7, 04 August 1876

       Esq. S. D. Gatlin living near
the State line was awakened
from his slumbers on Saturday
night by some one knocking at
his door. He did not know
whether it was the K. K., or
something worse. Upon en-
quiring of the visitors what was
wanted, he was told it was a
wedding party, and that his of-
ficial services were needed. The
Esq. struck a light invited the
Party to come in, when William
Werden and Sarah Little, pres-
sented themselves, and were un-
ited in marriage. They had
traveled on foot from near Po-
cahontas, Arkansas. They
went to Mr. King’s near by, and
staid all night. King says he
slept no more that night,

Samuel Gatlin was a free mason master of the Pleasant Hill Lodge which met on the Saturday before the 4^th Sunday each month at Pylant’s school house. I was surprised to learn of the problems that the community had with the "K. K." From the articles I read throughout 1876, this group was pretty ruthless and engaged in breaking their brothers out of jail by holding the jail officers hostage while the breakouts occurred. 

Here’s a map of the counties in Missouri. Ripley County, in which the Doniphan Prospect is written, is just 10 miles to the East of Oregon County.

I also found a reference to 18 deaths that happened in Oregon County that was originally reported in the South Missourian, 23 Sept 1876. It is possible my ancestor, Robert King could have perished along with this group. The article does not say if the deaths were due to sickness or even if they all occurred at the same time or throughout the year. I did not find any more mention of these deaths. But the date might help me to narrow down a time period. It would be nice to know what happened to these 18 persons who died in Oregon County as reported in September of 1876.

Doniphan Prospect, Volume 3, Number 16, 06 October 1876

       The South Missourion of
Sept. 23d, reports 18 deaths in
Oregon county. We think that
pretty serious for a healthy coun
ty like Oregon.

I am definitely learning a lot by going through newspapers and looking for what repositories have what newspapers. Jenna from the Desperately Seeking Surnames blog suggested I check out the Midwest Genealogy Center to see what newspapers they have on microfilm. I looked through their list of newspapers found here and located several papers from the time period I am interested in (1870-1876); however, they were located in St. Joseph, St. Louis, and Kansas City, each almost 200 miles away. I am not sure the death of my ancestor, Robert King, or his marriage to Tabitha House would have warranted a notice in one of these big city newspapers. More than likely, it would have been mentioned in the more local Springfield newspaper. However, I also looked through the online archive of Springfield news [Missouri Digital Heritage site, Hall’s Index & Itemsof Genealogical Interest from the Springfield, Green County, MO Newspapers ] but did not find any mention of either the 1870 marriage or 1876 death. This index began in 1865. 

In case you are wondering, in addition to keeping all my readers apprised of my journey here on my blog, I am also using the new Research Manager feature in my genealogy software (Rootsmagic 5) to keep track of each source I search and what I find.

This is what it looks like so far (click on the image to make it bigger):

The research report looks just like this in my RootsMagic software. I then print the report and I saved it to an RTF file. I adjusted the widths of the columns in order for it to fit in my Word document program window and look nicer. But other than that, I did not make any changes. I will add to this report as newspapers are searched. 

Searching for marriage and death notices in Missouri Newspapers

In my last post I published the marriage certificate of Robert KING and Tabitha HOUSE that I downloaded from Ancestry.com. Robert KING and Tabitha HOUSE were married on July 28, 1870 in Howell County, Missouri. They had two children, Dora and William Fletcher King, and then Robert King died in 1876 according to Tabitha’s obituary.

From watching Who Do You Think You Are? and from setting a new goal this year of going “outside the box,” I’m trying to learn how to find and use newspaper articles in my research. I would therefore like to find both a marriage notice for Robert King and Tabitha House and a death notice for Robert King from a Missouri newspaper. It’s just never as easy as it seems. The marriage notice might be the easiest to tackle because I have an exact day, month and year. The death notice, not so much.

I started off my search by getting a sense of what newspapers were local to the area during the time of these events.  

I went to the Chronicling America website at the Library of Congress and did a search in their US Newspaper Directory for Newspapers in Howell County, Missouri from 1870 to 1880 and it returned two newspapers: The South Missouri Journal (1870-18??) and the West Plains Journal (1870-1898). The South Missouri Journal is only available for the year 1873.

The West Plains Journal is available as the following:

1876 (6:23) – from American Antiquarian Society, Newspaper Project, Worcester, MA

1874 (10:1) – from the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

1926 (2:25) – from the Kansas State Historical Society, Newspaper Project, Topeka, KS

1896-1898 (1:2 - 9:22) – from the State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO

1896-1898 (1:2 - 9:22) – from the West Plains Public Library, West Plains, MO

I checked out the American Antiquarian Society’s website and they do have this journal, though no specific volume, year, or date information is provided on their website. I created a free account and I submitted an order for a PDF copy of the newspaper, I guess in whatever format it turns out to be in.

**Update 5/13/12: I waited a few days and didn't hear anything from them regarding my order, so I sent them an email. They processed my request the next day. I was sent JPG copies of the 4 page issue of the newspaper. It was the June 23, 1876 issue. I paid $15 via credit card to their site over the internet. The cost was quite steep for a paper that I did not even know contained any references to my ancestor, but sometimes that's the price we pay for information. 


It wasn't a bad first experience with the American Antiquarian Society. I did not find any references to my ancestor, Robert King, in this issue, but I did find, and write about the B. C. Thomas & Co Store which was in business in Howell Co during the time that my King ancestors were living there. I also posed the question of whether Mr. Blackman C. Thomas was related to Robert King's mother-in-law, Millie Thomas. 

Since there were no newspapers for the year 1870, when Robert and Tabitha were married, I changed my county search from Howell to Oregon. This resulted in the South Missourian (Alton, MO) and the South Missourian (Thomasville, MO), however they did not start until 1871 and 1873 respectively, so would not help me find a marriage notice, but might help me find a death notice for Robert KING.

The year 1876, in which Robert King died, is held by the following:

·         Chicago Historical Society Library in Chicago, IL (Vol 7, issue 22)

·         The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (Vol 8, issue 5)

·         The State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia, MO (Vol 7, issue 8).

It might be difficult to narrow down the exact date of death for Robert KING if these newspapers are not digitized and cannot be searched easily and quickly. I would probably have to hire a researcher to go through each issue at each repository to look for a notice of his death, unless these repositories offered a reasonable search fee.

As far as online historical databases go, I have checked the following:

·         America’s Historical Newspapers which includes Early American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690-1876 by Readex

·         Newsbank which my university subscribes to but which only goes back to

·         GenealogyBank, via their list of publications

I went on the Missouri Digital Newspaper Site and found the Doniphan Prospect newspaper that was put out weekly. Doniphan was in neighboring Ripley County and had some news associated with Oregon County as well. I scanned through the issues for the year 1876 which took me several hours. I found a mention of a Mr. King fromAugust 4, 1876. He was mentioned as a neighbor to a gentleman who was called upon in the middle of the night to marry a young couple who had come up from Arkansas. I did not, however, find a death notice for him in 1876 or in January 1877. I did find at least one death notice for a man from Oregon County, so I’m fairly confident that a death in Oregon County would have warranted notice in the Doniphan Prospect.

So either my Robert King did not die in 1876 like his wife’s obituary some 60 years later said, or he died in Howell County which was too far away to be mentioned in the Doniphan Prospect. (Howell County is only one county west of Oregon, which is only one county west of Ripley for which the Doniphan Prospect was written).

I’m not sure where to go from here. I need papers from South Missouri for the year 1870 and 1876. When I did a search on the Chronicling America website for all of Missouri, it came up with over 300 results. There really isn’t an option for “South Missouri” on that site.

I guess I will have to start asking around and inquiring with the local genealogy societies and libraries. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave in the comments below. 

Marriage Record of Tabitha House and Robert King of Oregon and Howell Counties, Missouri

So far in 2012 I have been working on trying to break down my PETERS brick wall. Part of that process has been going “outside the box.” One of the ways in which I’m trying to do that is to gain exposure of this family by putting more documents and stories on my blog. So far my PETERS line has branched into my KING line and today I would like to further branch into my HOUSE line.

Last week I wrote about Fletcher King who was the brother of my 2^nd great-grandmother, Dora King Peters. He married Mary French in Alton, Oregon County, Missouri on December 3, 1893 at the home of Mary French’s father, John French. My 2^nd great-grandmother, Dora King, married William Edward Peters in November 1900 at the age of 26.

Dora and Fletcher KING were the children of Robert KING and Tabitha HOUSE. Robert KING and Tabitha HOUSE were married July 28, 1870 in Howell County, Missouri in probably what is now known as West Plains Missouri. I have actually been to West Plains and to the courthouse. In fact, to this date, this is the only courthouse I have ever been in!

Unfortunately, it was early on in my research when I visited the courthouse and I did not know what I was looking for at the time, so I did not find this marriage record there. I did, however, pull it off of Ancestry.com on March 7, 2012 from the “Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002” online database.  Tabitha House was indexed as Tabitha “Course.” The record cited the Missouri Marriage Records, Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives - Microfim as the source for the database entry.

Here is a copy of the page entry. The entry for Robert KING and Tabitha HOUSE marriage is the very light print in the lower left:

This is what it looks like zoomed in and cropped:

The transcription is as follows:

This is to certify that the rites of
matrimony were solemnized by the
undersigned minister of the gospel
between Robert King of Oregon
county and Tabitha House of Howell
County both of the State of Missouri on
the 28th day of July 1870
                                                by Wm _______
                                                Minister of the Gospel
Recorded this 1st day of August 1870
                                                by _______ Rec

The 1870 census was taken in August in West Plains, Howell County, Missouri, where Tabitha HOUSE was from, so she was not enumerated with her family, Holensworth [sic] HOUSE because she was probably already moved out of the house and living with her new husband, Robert KING by then. The 1870 census was taken July 10 in Oak Grove, Oregon County, Missouri, where Robert KING’s family was from, so he WAS enumerated with his family (presumed to be Wilzey KING).  They were married July 28, 1870 in Howell County, Missouri, so they should have been caught on one of the census reports, but I have yet to find them on any. Unfortunately, Robert KING died in 1876, leaving Tabitha with two young children.

I don’t have a very big window with which to find much information. I got Robert’s date of death from Tabitha’s obituary. I would like to find a marriage announcement for Robert and Tabitha (27 July 1870) and an obituary for Robert KING (1876). Tabitha remarried to Samuel Watson in 1879. You can view their marriage record and see a photo of the young couple here. 

The Marriage of William Fletcher King and Mary French (Oregon Co., Missouri)

Here is the marriage license between William Fletcher King and Mary French that was emailed to me by Wanda Watson in March 2012. She obtained a copy of it from the Alton Courthouse in Alton, Missouri.

Fletcher King was my 2nd great-grandmother, Dora King's brother. Dora and Fletcher King were the children of Tabitha House and Robert King. Information and a photo of Fletcher King can be found here.

This license was issued to solemnize marriage between William F King of Alton [the license says "Attie" but it should be Alton since there is no such place as Attie], County of Oregon and state of Missouri; It states that William is over the age of 21 years and Miss Mary A French, also from Attie [sic], County of Oregon and state of Missouri; Miss Mary A French is over the age of 18. Permission was granted by verbal assent of J F French for his daughter Mary A French.

The license was signed by J. Felix Normand, Circuit Clerk, Alton, MO, 29 Nov 1893;

With certification that the "Local Elder" at the residence of J F French in Oregon Co., MO on the 3rd of Dec 1893, united in marriage the above named persons, signed by Joseph M Willards.

The license was filed for record 26 Dec 1893 by W. A. Norman Deputy and J. F. Norman, Circuit Clerk.

---------------------------------------------------------------

From this marriage license I learned that William King's wife's name was Mary French and that she was the daughter of J F French. Other records have indicated that Mary's father's name is John Frederick French. I also learned that they received their marriage license on November 29th, 1893 and were married on December 3rd, 1893 at the home of Mary's Father, John.

I am not the best at reading local records, so I am wondering if Joseph Willards was the man who married this couple or did he just witness the marriage? I checked the 1900 census report and there was a Joseph M Willard living next door to John French, but he was only 34 years old, certainly no "elder." He would have only been about 27 years old at the time of William and Mary's marriage. He was listed as a farmer on the census, not a minister.

What do you think? Was Joseph a witness or a minister?

Update: You can read my later post, "My Introduction to a Methodist Circuit Rider" for more information about Joseph Martin Willard, the man who married Fletcher and Mary King and who was a 2nd cousin of Fletcher's. 

Mildred Alice Peter's Death Certificate

In last week’s Tombstone Tuesday Post I showed a photo of Mildred A Peter’s headstone that I took when I visited Missouri back in 2006. Her Find-A-Grave memorial said she died of whooping cough and referenced her death certificate as the source. I pulled her death certificate from the Missouri State Archives online death certificate website to see what else I could find out. She was only 1 month 6 days old when she died.  I believe she was Herbert and Emma Peters’ first child. How sad it must have been for them to lose a child at such a young age.

Missouri State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death No. 10958-1, filed in Oregon County, Missouri, which was also the place of death.

This is the only source so far I have seen providing Mildred’s middle name of “Alice.” Her parents were Herbert Peters, born in Thomasville, Missouri. Thomasville is a small community just north of Alton in Oregon County, Missouri. Her mother was Emma Dodd, born in Lawrence County, Arkansas which is just over the Missouri-Arkansas line.

Mildred Alice Peters was an infant born January 27^th, 1931 in Thomasville, Oregon County, Missouri. She died in same of whooping cough on March 5, 1931. She was 1 month, 6 days old. Following death, she was buried March 6, 1931 in Joliff Cemetery, Thomasville, Missouri, by O B Bales. Her father, Herbert Peters, was the informant of this death.

If you have more information about this family, please feel free to email me at ginger (dot) reney (at) gmail (dot) com. Replace items in parenthesis with “.” and “@.” Or click on my name to open new email message to me: <a href="mailo:ginger.reney@gmail.com"> Ginger R. Smith </A>

To learn more information on this family, read my post: The Mystery of William Herbert Peters’ Birth. Herbert Peters was my great-grandmother's half-brother. He was born in Missouri, but eventually settled in Texas where he died in 1979. 

William Fletcher King

Photo of William Fletcher KING sent to me by Wanda Watson, 2005.

William Fletcher King was born June 28, 1873 in Missouri.¹ He was the brother of my 2nd great-grandmother, Dora KING PETERS. Fletcher and Dora KING were the children of Robert "Bob" KING and Tabitha HOUSE. Robert and Tabitha were married July 28, 1870 in Howell County, Missouri.² In 1876, Bob King died and Tabitha remarried to Samuel H WATSON Nov 16, 1879 in Highland Township, Oregon County, Missouri.³ In 1880, Dora and Fletcher were enumerated as "Watsons" on the 1880 Oregon County, Missouri census report while living with their mother, Tabitha and her new husband, Samuel Watson.⁴

This photo is undated, however Samuel Watson is actually in the photo with young Fletcher King, but he has been cut out. So this photo was probably taken between 1879-1890. Fletcher would have been about 6 years old in 1880. It was probably taken in Oregon County, Missouri.

In 1893, William Fletcher King married Mary FRENCH, daughter of John and Cynthia (Pace) FRENCH.⁵ In 1900, they were enumerated on the Highland Township, Oregon County, Missouri census report with two young children, William and Nancy King.⁶ Fletcher’s mother Tabitha Watson, step-father Samual Watson, and 7 step-siblings lived nearby.⁷

Fletcher’s sister Dora KING had given birth to a baby boy in March of 1900 and has not yet been found on the 1900 Missouri or Arkansas census report (taken in June). She married my 2nd great-grandfather, William E. Peters on November 3, 1900⁸ and was enumerated with him on the 1910 Highland Township, Oregon County, Missouri Census Report.⁹

William Fletcher King, wife Mary, and 5 children were also living in Highland Township, Oregon County, Missouri, not far from his sister Dora Peters in 1910.¹⁰ However, in 1918, Fletcher King signed up for the Draft in Gilchrist, Weld County, Colorado ¹and was enumerated TWICE in 1920! He was enumerated January 26, 1920 in Precinct 29 of Weld County ¹¹ and then again on March 4, 1920 in Precinct 22 of Weld County, Colorado. ¹² He had different neighbors on each census and he was renting each time, so that leads me to believe he moved to a new house sometime between Jan and Mar of 1920.

According to the census reports and his WWI draft card, Fletcher King was a farmer and worked on a general farm. He was of medium height and build, had blue eyes and dark hair. Unfortunately I cannot locate him or his family after the 1920 census. He seems to have disappeared into thin air, kind of like his sister, Dora Peters.

If you have information about this family or would like to contact me personally, please feel free to email me Ginger R. Smith.

SOURCES

1. "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital image, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 7 March 2012), William Fletcher King; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, National Archives and Records Administration Publication M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm No 1561803. ↩
2. Ancestry.com, "Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002," digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 7 March 2012), The solemnization of marriage between Robert King and Tabitha House, Howell County, Missouri; From the microfilm of the Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives; Notes: Howell County, MO. Tabitha was indexed as “Tabetha Couse.” ↩
3. Ancestry.com, "Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002," digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 7 March 2012), Marriage Certificate of Samuel H Watson and Tabitha King, Oregon County, Missouri; From the microfilm of the Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives; Notes: Tabitha was indexed as “Talitha King.” The marriage certificate of Samuel H Watson of Oregon Co., and Tabitha King of Oregon Co., MO: joined in matrimony in Highland Township, Oregon Co., MO on 19 Nov 1879 by B E H Warren LM? and filed in this office on 17th Dec 1879. ↩
4. 1880 US Federal Census, Oregon County, Missouri, population schedule, Highland Township, Page 326A, Samuel Watson; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2005); NARA Film T9, Roll 707, FHL Film 1254707. ↩
5. Wanda Watson, Yakima, Washington, [E-MAIL FOR PRIVATE USE], to Ginger R Smith, email, 28 November 2005, "Family," King; privately held by Smith, [E-MAIL & ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Durham, NC 27713, 2005. ↩
6. 1900 US Federal Census, Oregon County, Missouri, population schedule, Highland Township, enumeration district (ED) 80, Page 7a, Lines 8-11, dwelling 112, family 113, taken Jun 1900, William F King; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2005); NARA Film T623. FHL Film 1240879. ↩
7. 1900 US Federal Census, Oregon County, Missouri, population schedule, Highland Township, enumeration district (ED) 80, Page 5A, Lines 42-50, dwelling 83, family 84, taken Jun 1900, Samuel Watson; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2005); NARA Film T623. FHL Film 1240879. ↩
8. William Bill Rogers, [E-MAIL FOR PRIVATE USE], to Ginger R Smith, email, 28 February 2006, ","; privately held by Smith, [E-MAIL & ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Durham, NC 27713. ↩
9. 1910 US Federal Census, Oregon County, Missouri, population schedule, Big Apple Township, enumeration district (ED) 117, Page 7B, Line 67, dwelling 130, family 133, William Peters (head); digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 February 2012); NARA Film T624, Roll 804, FHL Film 1374817. ↩
10. 1910 US Federal Census, Oregon County, Missouri, population schedule, Highland Township, taken 28 Apr 1910, enumeration district (ED) 122, Page 6A (penned), Lines 3-9, dwelling 104, family 108, William F King; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2005); NARA Film T624, Roll 804, FHL Film 1374817. ↩
11. 1920 US Federal Census, Weld County, Colorado, population schedule, Taken 26 Jan 1920, Precinct 29, enumeration district (ED) 239, Page 4A (Penned), Page 206 (stamped), Lines 16-24, dwelling 78, family 87, Fletcher W King; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : downloaded 8 March 2012); NARA Film T625, Roll 172. ↩
12. 1920 US Federal Census, Weld County, Colorado, population schedule, Taken 2, 3, and 4 Mar 1920 Precinct 22, Beebe Draw, enumeration district (ED) 246, Page 13A (penned), Line 32, dwelling 258, family 259, Fletcher King; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : downloaded 8 March 2012); NARA Film T625, Roll 172. ↩